Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
He came around his desk and took one of the glasses of brandy I’d poured, then lifted the picture I’d just set down. Swirling the liquid around in his glass, he stared down at it.
“Candice is beautiful alright. Too bad she’s a fucking bitch on wheels. We separated nine months ago. With all the #MeToo crap going on, figured it would be better to keep up my façade as a happily married man in public.”
He lifted his glass and clinked it with mine. “Speaking of beautiful women, I’m looking forward to seeing what your colleague came up with later.”
Chapter 25
* * *
Annalise
He’s such a jerk.
I continued to wear my big, fake, happy face as I said goodbye to Tobias. But the moment he pushed through the revolving door, I pivoted on my heel, scowled, and headed to the bar to look for my stalker. A feeling of déjà vu came over me.
“Excuse me?” I called to the bartender. “I’m looking for the guy who was sitting down at that end of the bar just a few minutes ago?”
He nodded. “Drinks Corona and looks like someone ran over his dog?”
“That would be him.”
“Paid his tab and left a minute or two ago. Not sure if he’s a guest here since he paid cash. Didn’t catch which way he went when he took off.”
“Oh, he’s a guest here alright,” I mumbled and started toward the front desk. “That I’d bet my life on.”
The front desk had two employees, and both were helping people already, so I got in line. But while waiting, it dawned on me that they might not give out another guest’s room number so easily. So instead, I walked back to the lobby, dug out my cell, and looked up the phone number of the hotel.
“Hi. I’m trying to reach a guest there. He’s my boss, actually. He gave me the direct telephone number to his room for a conference call we’re about to have, but I seem to have misplaced it.”
“I can connect you. What’s the guest’s name?”
“Ummm… Could you possibly just give me the direct number again? He gave it to me because I’ll be calling with a few other people on a conference line, and for privacy reasons, he doesn’t like to give out the name of the hotel where he’s staying. The operator says the name of the hotel when she answers at the main number. He’s going to kill me for losing it.”
“Sure. No problem. What’s the guest’s name?”
“It’s Bennett Fox.”
When I’d given my direct-dial phone number to Marina earlier today, I’d noticed that my room number was the last four of the phone number. Either that was one hell of a coincidence, or they all worked that way.
I heard her clicking some keys before returning to the line. “That direct number would be 213-555-7003.”
“Thank you very much.”
“No problem. Have a good evening.”
I swiped to end the call. Oh, I’m going to have a good evening alright—chewing out the asshole in room 7003.
***
Was it possible that blood could actually boil? I started to sweat on the elevator ride up to the seventh floor. It felt like heat was pouring from my pores—I was that pissed off.
Not only had I made sure the jerk had a chance to present his ideas to Tobias, but I’d never said one bad word about him, never tried to manipulate my friendship with Tobias to gain an advantage. And what does the jackass do? He makes up lies about me so I look like a dumbass talking to the client.
The elevator doors slid open, and I marched down to room 7003. Without taking a minute to calm myself, I banged on the door. When it didn’t open in three seconds, I banged some more—this time louder. The door swung open mid knock.
“What the fuck?” Bennett roared.
If I hadn’t been so pissed off, I might’ve been distracted by the sight of a shirtless Bennett Fox standing on the other side. But I was furious, so seeing he had chiseled abs only made me angrier.
Of course he also has a perfect body. What a dick.
I marched right past him, into his hotel room.
He stood there blinking for a moment, seeming confused as to what the hell was going on. Eventually, he shook his head and let go of the doorknob still in his hand.
“Come on in. I wasn’t in the middle of getting undressed or anything.”
“You have some nerve.”
“I have lots of nerve. You’ll need to be more specific about what crawled up your ass.”
His playing dumb made me lose my cool. Not that I’d been too much in control before, but I snapped.
I got right in his face and jabbed my finger into his chest. “I’m in a committed relationship with Marina? What the hell is wrong with you!”
“Oh. That.”
“I’ve done nothing but right by you, and how do you repay me? You go and tell the client I’m having an affair with a woman in the office, so I look completely unprofessional!”